telecommunication

U.N. summit votes to support Internet eavesdropping

A United Nations summit has adopted confidential recommendations proposed by China that will help network providers target BitTorrent uploaders, detect trading of copyrighted MP3 files, and, critics say, accelerate Internet censorship in repressive nations.

Approval by the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union came despite objections from Germany, which warned the organization must "not standardize any technical means that would increase the exercise of control over telecommunications content, could be used to empower any censorship of content, or could impede the free flow of information and ideas."

The ITU adopted the confidential Y.2770 standard for deep packet … Read more

Berners-Lee warns against changes to Net at UN conclave

If you ask the folks who had a hand in the creation of the Internet, odds are you'll get a very different read on a regulation idea likely to turn into a lightning rod for controversy at a highly anticipated meeting of the UN's International Telecommunications Union.

The conference was called to rewrite a 1988 treaty that governs international communications traffic, called the International Telecommunications Regulations (PDF).

But in the run-up to the conclave, which takes place this week in in Dubai, several technology companies and Internet free-speech advocates, as well as the European Parliament and the United … Read more

Vringo sues ZTE for alleged patent infringement

Vringo, a company that offers ringtones, but has increasingly relied on licensing its patent portfolio, is the latest to take aim at ZTE.

The company announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese telecommunications equipment company, saying that it has violated three of its patents. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.K. High Court of Justice, Chancery Division Patents Court, Vringo alleges that ZTE's cellular network technologies, as well as its GSM/UMTS multimode wireless handsets, are violating its patents.

ZTE has suffered through an awfully tough day. In addition to getting … Read more

Euro ISPs defend new fees as 'business class' Internet (Q&A)

ASPEN, Colo.--Luigi Gambardella is an amiable, effusive Italian businessman, who seems almost bemused that anyone would object to his proposal to give a United Nations body more authority over how national governments may or may not regulate the Internet.

Gambardella is chairman of the executive board of the European Telecommunications Network Operators, or ETNO, which submitted a proposal to a U.N. body in June that would establish the principle of sender-party-pays for Internet traffic. Not-so-coincidentally, a lot of Internet traffic is sent to Europe from the United States.

"We believe that this situation is putting at risk … Read more

Obama signs order outlining emergency Internet control

President Barack Obama signed an executive order last week that could give the U.S. government control over the Internet.

With the wordy title "Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions," this order was designed to empower certain governmental agencies with control over telecommunications and the Web during natural disasters and security emergencies.

Here's the rationale behind the order:

The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, … Read more

Worldwide IT spending to edge past $3.6 trillion this year

Organizations around the world will collectively spend more than $3.6 trillion on IT products and services, Gartner said today.

That sounds like a healthy chunk of change, but it marks only a 3 percent increase from last year when spending totaled around $3.5 trillion. Still, Gartner's latest forecast is a bit more optimistic than the 2.5 percent rise it projected last quarter.

"While the challenges facing global economic growth persist -- the eurozone crisis, weaker U.S. recovery, a slowdown in China -- the outlook has at least stabilized," Richard Gordon, a research vice … Read more

Amendments to U.N. treaty could censor the Internet

While individual countries grapple with their own laws over limitations on the Internet, the United Nations is also looking at possible amendments to a telecommunications treaty that could amount to worldwide Internet censorship.

The World Conference on International Telecommunications is to be held in Dubai this December and more than 190 countries are expected to attend. One of the matters to be discussed at the conference is changes to a 24-year-old telecommunications treaty called the International Telecommunications Regulations, according to the Associated Press.

In preparation for the meeting, dozens of countries have been debating possible changes behind closed doors, according … Read more

European telcoms defend leaked proposal for U.N. Internet tax

European network providers that want the United Nations to consider a new Internet tax targeting Google, Facebook, Apple, and Netflix today defended their proposal, which was leaked earlier this week.

The idea of requiring content providers to pay fees based on usage is an "innovative" change to the way the Internet currently works and will create a more "fair" environment "where operators' revenues will not be disconnected from the investment needs made necessary by the rapid growth of Internet traffic," the providers said in a statement (PDF).

Last night, CNET reported that the European … Read more

U.N. could tax U.S.-based Web sites, leaked docs show

The United Nations is considering a new Internet tax targeting the largest Web content providers, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Netflix, that could cripple their ability to reach users in developing nations.

The European proposal, offered for debate at a December meeting of a U.N. agency called the International Telecommunication Union, would amend an existing telecommunications treaty by imposing heavy costs on popular Web sites and their network providers for the privilege of serving non-U.S. users, according to newly leaked documents.

The documents (No. 1 No. 2) punctuate warnings that the Obama administration and Republican members of Congress … Read more